Discussion

Thanksgiving Appetizers

I am going to my mothers house for Thanksgiving, and have been asked to bring some hors d'ouevers. I am hoping I can get some suggestions from my fellow chowhounds.

I do have some restrictions though:

1. I have to drive 2 hours to get there, although of course I can put something together when i get there.

2. I don't have a working oven. My stovetop is working just fine, but the heating coil in my oven is on the fritz, and I will not have a replacement before thanksgiving, so nothing baked; I do have access to a great weber grill, and of course my stovetop.

Marinated shrimp with herbed olive oil - a little fancier than cocktail shrimp, but just as easy and you don't need a dipping sauce (marinate cooked shrimp for about 4 hours in herbs and EVOO or flavored olive oil. I use fresh basil and chives, some lemon zest, salt, pepper, and little garlic, and Penzey's Fox Point Seasoning). Serve as an appetizer, or individually wrapped in a baby spinach leaf for hors d'ouevres. I like how pretty pomegranate seeds are since they're available now. I've done a tabouleh with pomegranate seeds, served with pita chips. Dips are always good as they taste better made in advance. The link below mentions the blue cheese dip with caramelized shallots I make every year (from Epicurious). I serve it with store-bought gourmet rosemary potato chips, and sometimes crudities. For hors d'ouevres, maybe on crostini? Another popular one is the Barefoot Contessa's Sun-Dried Tomato Dip. I've served it in a hollowed-out acorn squash to make it more festive.

At my parents house, no one will be happy unless there is an old style relish tray and deviled eggs. These offer the advantage of letting people graze and nibble without getting too full before a big meal and they can sit out several hours if needed (excepting eggs.) it would be easy to bring and put together onsite. You can buy everything or make some of the components yourself. Think of it as a retro chic dish and put out some unexpected goodies.

Chill celery and carrot stick, cauliflowerettes and radish roses in ice water and transport on ice, no biggie if it melts. You can stuff the celery with cream cheese, pimento dip or a mix of cream cheese and blue. You can fancy it up easily by adding your own roasted peppers layered with anchovies, capers, garlic slivers, salt & pepper and olive oil. Marinate overnight. Likewise you can make a marinade for any blanched veggie like cauliflower or zucchini--there are some nice Italian recipes. You can get interesting pickles, olives and peppers at a Deli.

If this will be out for a few hours ahead, I might add a cheese ball, smoked salmon, sardines, or salami slices.

If you do delived eggs, you can make up the filling at home, stuff a pastry bag and wrap it with plastic and fill onsite.

I almost forgot the crab mold! Sometimes we serve this spread and now that it is so easy to by the chilled cans of crab I might make this. The family has always used this recipe with the Cream O Mushroom soup (it pretty much disappears into the dip):http://whatscookingamerica.net/Appeti...

I've always intended to try a recipe that doesn't use the canned soup. Also, for some reason they insist that it be served with Waverley crackers. I like water crackers, personally.

Ya know, I love a good relish tray: marinated artichokes, good olives, hearts of palm, marinated mushrooms, roasted red peppers and some fancy crudite and unique cheeses. Or, how about a good soup that's a little lighter. Make it ahead of time, freeze it or put it in the cooler and put it in a crockpot upon arrival. Put some mugs on the table with some croutons and maybe sour cream for garnish. A good butternut squash soup can be found at http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recip...

I have to ask as this has me slightly confused: Why is it called a relish tray?? Looks like an antipasto platter to me, at least as described above. Also it's something I've never some across before, or at least not to my knowledge (as in no one ever called it that).Relish tray to my imagination just means a variety of pickles...

One easy and no cooking. Skewer grapeseed tomatoes, small mozzarella balls and basil leaves and serve with good store bought basil pesto. You can pre-assemble at home and plate at your moms. You can even make the skewers the night before and wrap.

Another is just to buy some good quality italian antipasto ingredients like olives, salami, parmigano-reggiano, artichoke hearts, stuffed cherry tomatoes, artichoke hearts, etc from a good pork store (an italian grocery store) or well stocked grocery store. Just arrange on a pretty platter and serve with sliced semolina and extra virgin olive oil.